On Halloween night, a short-term rental on Lake Place booked for five adults became the site of a ticketed party that drew hundreds of strangers, set off a massive police response and left the house trashed.
The guest booked the house for Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. The rental agreement bans events and large gatherings.
Meanwhile, an organizer listed as HAPO Entertainment was selling tickets on Eventbrite to “Haunted After Dark,” a “house party full of good vibes and scary energy” at the home’s address, 10 p.m. to midnight Oct. 31. Tickets: $20 in advance, $40 at the door. Costumes were required: “no costume, no entry.”
“Address drops DAY OF,” the listing promised. It shows 712 attendees.
“This is not a typical guest having a party that went out of control,” one of the owners said. “This is an explicit planned event.”
A Long Night on Lake Place
Earlier, a family trick-or-treating on the block found the windows covered with black trash bags. “They didn’t have any candy for us, so we moved on,” the mother said. The guest also shut off the security cameras, the owners said.
“ They all came walking back in their costumes, climbing over, trying to get back in the house to party.”
The crowd arrived around 11 p.m. By midnight, police had shut down Irving Avenue. Neighbors reported as many as 30 squad cars. Officers told the owners they cleared between 500 and 1,000 people.
The crowd spilled onto neighbors’ yards, stoops and retaining walls. “They were blocking all our driveways,” said a longtime neighbor.
Night of the Living Partygoers
“I looked out again later and they all came back,” the neighbor said. “They all came walking back in their costumes, climbing over, trying to get back in the house to party.”
Officers kept repeating, “Please disperse. Go home now.” But, the neighbor said, “the kids had no fear.”
One neighbor, driving home from a party, got stuck in the crowd on Irving. Her daughter was at a sleepover nearby, and she feared the night could turn into a gunfight. The partygoers she talked with mostly appeared to be 16 to 20 years old.
Nerves on this block were already raw. A few years ago, a stolen Audi sped down Irving, vaulted a retaining wall and landed inside a neighbor’s house. Last year, a stray bullet came through a kitchen window on the same block; police traced it to gunfire near Karmel Mall. Stray bullets were neighbors’ biggest fear.
Other neighbors said young people held up phones to record officers, as if to provoke a reaction. As they left, some cursed about being chased out. A young woman passed out on the sidewalk had to be carried away.
Police reached the owners at 1:40 a.m. They drove over and, with officers, locked the house down.
“I was grateful there was not violence,” one neighbor said of the police response. “I’d rather it take a little bit longer and everybody keeps their cool.”
What Was Left Behind
By morning, trash, beer cans and shoes littered the yard. Inside, the owners reported structural damage to police. Windows were broken throughout, many of them custom. Furniture, artwork, rugs and the kitchen were destroyed. “You name it, the whole place is just turned upside down,” one owner said.
A neighbor who went inside saw liquor bottles everywhere and artwork hanging off the walls. “They just trashed the house.”
The owners sent an apology to about 70 households through the block club. “We are so deeply sorry for the noise, stress, and disruption this caused your families last night,” they wrote.
One owner said the money matters less than “the emotional hurt, the sacredness of the place being violated, not only about my home, but the entire neighborhood.”
Not Just an Airbnb Problem
Police in other cities call events like this “pop-up parties”: a short-term rental booked for a night, promoted online and opened to anyone who shows up.
A related event happened earlier this year teens smashed the front door of the Venue on Knox apartments in Uptown in April and threw a rooftop party, Fox 9 reported. In Crystal, police have closed Becker Park to head off youth “takeovers” promoted on social media.
“ It’s not an Airbnb problem. It’s a societal problem.”
“It’s not an Airbnb problem. It’s a societal problem,” one owner said. The owners hope neighbors will come together so that organizers of parties like this think twice before trying it again.
Craig Wilson is the editor of the Hill & Lake Press. He lives in Lowry Hill.
